The Permutation

Apex (Part 6) Vergil

Saturday, November 5th, 1:30 a.m.

People that looked like friends and neighbors closed in on all sides, and Vergil was at a loss. Two roads lay before him and neither felt like the lesser of two evils.

On one hand, Vergil had made a promise to himself to save the people of Lancet Falls, and Vergil doubted they had the time or the resources to figure out how to remove the parasites inhabiting their bodies before the rest of Lancet Falls became infected.

Does upholding my promise to the infected mean I'm breaking it to let everyone else die?

On the other hand, the people around him expected Vergil to do what was necessary to protect them. Especially Lisa and Albert. They had put all their chips on Vergil, and if he decided to stick to the moral high ground, this is where they would be making there last stand. Emphasis on the last.

Vergil made his decision.

"Don't hurt anyone! Just incapacitate them until we figure this out," He shouted directing his voice to Blujh and the absurdly fat man. A man that killed without compunction, all it took was one stray thought.

If Vergil had known the man was going to kill Perry and the blazing inferno that had once been Rachel Durant, he didn't know if he would have saved the man. Vergil knew he was kidding himself. Although, it would have meant other consequences, Vergil couldn't have let a helpless person die. Although the man was pitiful in his own way, he showed flashes a better man underneath his gelatinous surface. In hindsight, Vergil would have found a way to both save the man and prevent him from killing anyone.

Another failure to add to the list.

"Fuck that buddy," the fat man said, "These people are gone, but we aren't."

"You don't know that!" Vergil shouted.

"Take a look at that kid you choked out. The one you tried to 'save.' Those look like the eyes of someone with a chance? Because they look pretty fucking dead to me."

The boy had been named Mikey Clymens. Vergil couldn't remember where he knew him from, "He's not dead."

A voice spoke up, a voice that cut through the veil of Vergil's rationalizations with cold logic, "Vergil lad, I'm afraid that rotund and sorry excuse for humanity is correct. If we had the time or resources available to us, we may have been able to save all of these people one hundred times over to satisfy that overinflated hero complex of yours, but that option is no longer feasible.

We're a mismatched amalgam of people, but at least we are still breathing and have the slightest offchance of making it out of this predicament intact. I suggest you take a break from your self-flagellation and prove that your brain isn't simply there for ornamentation. As much as I am loathe to admit, you have the qualities of a natural born leader, and I suggest you polish them off and use them for a change."

They were the first words Albert had spoken since he had regained consciousness, and it seemed fitting that his first words were used to reprimand Vergil. It also seemed the dog was right. As always.

The group all had their eyes on Vergil, and they expected him to do something. He didn't know when, but they'd gone from being a ragtag group of disparate individuals to a band of people that looked to him for guidance. A gorge of bile rose in Vergil's throat, the burden threatening to overwhelm him, but it didn't.

"Alright everybody, you heard the dog, I think. We stand and fight! Any ideas on how we get out of this in one piece?"

The little boy, pumped his fist into the air, but didn't offer anything in the way of strategy or tactics. No one else piped in to offer anything of value. They looked at each other and what seemed to be hundreds of parasites surrounding them.